Pine Street.

Pine Street.

During my first year of high school, the year of new beginnings, we moved into a two story home that would soon become ours. From the inside out, my parents renovated and changed it to a classic country home. The yard was all grass. Yet, within a year it had been turned into a beautiful escape from the busy lives we lived. The home I was born in reminds my family of many incredible memories. Yet, it's not the home I miss today. Today, as I enjoy my own first home as an adult, I am reminded of the comfort, fun, and joy I have had in my home in Oregon. It will always be considered home. Even if it's not the place I am living most of the time. Home is where your heart is, and that has become such a reality for me. Yes, my home here with Jason is where my heart is. Yet, every person has a place they look at as "home". It's either where their family is, or where they first moved to when their own home wasn't a good place anymore. We each have a place we love to call home, that place we love to visit when we need to get away from the busy lives we lead in our new home. For me, my "home" is the home I just left. The home my parents have built for us as a family. The place where we all come back to when the holidays roll around. It's home.

It's the street I grew up in.
It's the place I grew to love my parents for who they were not just because they were my parents.
I learned how to cook in that house.
I became best friends with my Mom there.
Josh and I spent hours on the trampoline or in the hot tub there.
I was picked up for my first prom in that house.
And learned how to drive there.
I grew to love my neighbors Rod and Noella like family while living there.
I found my love for mini weiner dogs there:)
I had many hours of journaling and laying in the hammock wondering where God would lead me .
I had to the hard way who my true friends were while living there.
I spent time working in the yard with my Dad, talking to him about life.
I enjoyed many dinners talking to my brothers and parents for hours after the food was gone.
I battled a minor eating disorder there and regained a healthy picture of my true beauty.
God took control of my life so often while living there.
I brought home my love to "meet the family".
My family fell in love with my true love and welcomed him into our family there.

As I have my own home now with Jason, I desire to create memories just like these wherever we go. I hope to fill our home with love and laughter and the peace of God. I hope to raise my children to love the Lord and live for him here. It won't be in this exact home of course, yet it will be in my home Jason and I created.

In the future, I look forward to going and visiting my home in Oregon, yes, where a piece of my heart will always be.

I look forward to so many incredible memories to continue to be created in that home. The home where I grew up.

Mom, Dad, Josh, and Alex, thank you. Thank you for making home such a beautiful place. Thank you for loving me for who I am every moment I walk through the door. Thank you for my home. I love you.

Britt